Although veggie patties take some elbow grease, I assure you it is completely worth it. Make a whole batch and freeze them for your next meals. Or even better, pop them in the toaster or microwave in the morning for a savoury breakfast.
I find this recipe very forgiving. If you don’t want left over ingredients -such as half an onion- feel free to toss them into the cooking process. You will be surprised by the amount of veggies crammed into these golden pucks.
Thanksgiving is no longer around the corner! I hope you are having a lovely extended weekend to get away from the hustle and bustle of life. I know I will be enjoying my reading week to catch up on courses and to recharge myself. I could not ask for a better birthday gift than a week off (p.s. tomorrow I turn 21!). A month ago I purchased a new camera lens which I am still trying to get the hang of. To make up for the lack of savoury dishes on this blog, here it is. My friends from Underground Culinary Lab (UCL) invited me to a virtual double-date potluck. Ricelessasian and Matchachoco are good friends of mine from university and also the creative masters of the UCL blog. They made a delectable pumpkin loaf and healthy pumpkin oatmeal cookies here. Check out their blog for delicious recipes, beautiful photographs, travel and much more. 
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It looks like spring is slowly approaching. Some days the breeze is warm…yes, I said warm! Please don’t fall back to the cold dark days, Toronto. It’s been a while since brownies last made an appearance in the kitchen which is why I am just popping in to share my all-time favourite vegan brownie recipe. I found the Almond Joy Brownies from Hangry Tales and have made some changes over the many times I baked them. Check out Hangry Tales for many delicious and healthy recipes 🙂 The coconut flour gives the brownies a unique distinction, but if you don’t have it at home feel free to substitute with ground oats. This recipe is slightly more dense than a regular brownie, and the melted chocolate adds a subtle richness. At the same time, I think it has the perfect amount of sweetness and does not have the tooth-sticking gooey feel as it is a little more crumbly. I hope you enjoy it! Continue reading
Sitting here again, about to type another post and wondering what exactly do I know about St. Patrick’s day?… I’ll be honest and admit that I don’t know much to it. With the help of google, I finally realize what “shamrock” is—a clover. I’m probably the last person to find out. But did you know, the shamrock was used to represent the Holy Trinity? Last night some colleagues from work went to the St. Patty’s campus pub night and invited me to tag along. But after a week of busy projects and definitely sleep deprived, I diverted home instead.
Anywho, I thought I would share a little something to contribute to the wave of green coloured recipes and hey, it is my favourite colour. This Key Lime Pie is very lightly adapted from Blogilates. Cassey has a really cool series called Cheap Clean Eats. The original recipe is linked here, and it’s also no-bake and vegan. I love the simplicity of the recipe and it’s so creamy. Continue reading
Rosemary is one of the must pungent and aromatic herbs. It is said that rosemary in Latin (rosemarinus) means “dew of the sea”. It’s no secret that my love for fresh herbs and gardening is growing, especially after seeing my host family’s beautiful herb garden in Monaco. They grew mint, sage, rosemary, basil, thyme, chives and a few others. I wish I could find a picture of it now but I may need to do some reorganizing of my files first. On a taco night dinner we had, host dad made a mojito for me using fresh mint from their garden and coconut water instead of alcohol. It was my favourite drink of the summer. 
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As terrible as it is already being a slow blogger, there are far too many things get put off and on hold. After coming back home I developed a serious cold. A sandpaper-like throat, cracked voice, sniffles…the ones that usually only appear once or twice a year for me. I’m suspicious that it might have had something to do with sitting next to the guy with the flu on the plane for 9 hours. Other than that, September has been so great. Some of the highlights of the weeks..
Cravings let loose. Bibimbap —check. Although it is usually eaten with rice, surprisingly it’s even better in a sandwich.
Mango slushi makes everything better. I was literally as happy as in the picture.
The Toronto Vegetarian Food Festival took place in the beginning of the month by the harbourfront.
It was such a blast seeing the event with a good friend. We were already full from the samples but still got a few small items for dinner and dessert. Continue reading
May I present to you a simple, delicious and nutritious appetizer. But first, please visit the beginning of the potluck on Vegan Bloggers Unite. To add, I just want to mention that although I am not vegan, I enjoy a plant-based diet and enjoy creating vegan foods. Almost 2 years later, I am loving the plant-based lifestyle. This idea can from a time when I spread sweet potato on a slice of pumpernickel bread, added some mixed salad and tomatoes for the sake of using up leftovers. I thought the colours looked so vivid and it tasted great too.
I used an old rice cooker to steam sweet potato, exactly a twin of one below except it is grey. My parents brought it with them from Taiwan 10 years ago and it still functions quite well.
There are other ways to cook sweet potato as well such as baking or using a slow cooker, any method that works for you. I used the pieces close to the end of Whole Food’s “Seeduction bread”, whole wheat with lots of different types of seeds. Since it is not a tall loaf, it has perfect small disc sized pieces at each end. I used a store bought vegan pesto brand, Sunflower Kitchen. The basil taste is so dominant, I’m so addicted. Continue reading
The biggest thing I love about cooking is that a delicious, healthy and appealing dish doesn’t have to involve many expensive ingredients or fancy processes of preparation. Caponata stew is one of those impressing dishes that has become the go-to meal for me recently. It’s easy to prepare and it will take up any of the vegetables you want to empty out of your fridge. This recipe is from Laura Vitale’s videos.
From what was found on google, caponata is a traditional Sicilian dish which is often eaten as a side dish, but also as a main dish. It consists mainly of eggplants, olives, onions and herbs. However, for your reference this recipe is by no means a traditional one.
Caponata Stew
Serves: 5
Adopted from Laura Vitale but the same idea of veggies stewed in tomatoes is still kept. Very small changes to the amounts of the vegetables used, olives were omitted because I never have them at home, also omitted hot pepper flakes, vinegar (because the tomato sauce is already acidic) and red wine.
few tablespoons of oil for cooking vegetables
1 cup chopped carrots
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 medium-sized onion (or 3 shallots)
1 1/2 large bell pepper (you can mix up different colours)
1 large eggplant, chopped
1/2 cup marinated artichokes
~25 ounces (725 mL) of canned tomato sauce
1/2 cup water (optional, used to lightly dilute tomato sauce)
1 tbsp brown sugar
a handful of raisins
salt and pepper to taste
dried or fresh basil to taste
1. Use enough oil to cook all the vegetables except for the artichokes in a pot or a cooking pan that will be able to hold all the ingredients together. Cook on medium-high heat for about 8-10 minutes or until they begin to soften. Cooking everything in one pot will help make cleaning a lot easier.
2. Season with salt and pepper. Add in tomato sauce, artichokes,water and raisins. Let it cook over medium heat for about 30 minutes with occasionally stirring, or until the stew is thick and vegetables are tender.
3. Add in sugar and season with salt/pepper/basil.
4. Serve hot and enjoy. Leftovers can be refrigerated and frozen.
It’s hearty, filling and definitely something of a comfort food which is why I think it would be great for a holiday meal. You can have caponata with bread, pasta, noodles, in lasagna, and with other vegetables. Add in whatever else you desire. I am planning on adding cooked beans to this next time.
Days until Christmas: 4
After dinner tonight I took a half an hour walk around the neighbourhood. The weather was just right. I’m slowly trying to incorporate daily walks each day after dinner. My neighbourhood is a relatively young one, always with young children and parents on street sides. The things I overhear the kids say always crack me up on the inside. While I strolled along into a little forest trail, a few boys shouted “KAWKAW! KAWKAW!” and all kinds of bird noises to establish their positions among the trees. Ain’t that the cutest thing 🙂
Dinner was very simple and included a zing of pesto. I grabbed this baby at Costco yesterday upon seeing how green and fresh looking it was.
I boiled 1 cup of pasta shells and 1/2 cup of whole wheat macaroni. After they were drained, I drizzled some olive oil. Then I cut a 300g block of extra firm tofu into small cubes. They marinated with pesto sauce + extra olive oil for about 3 1/2 hours in the refrigerator only because I had time. I usually skip the marinating. After marinating, I heated the tofu over a pan on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes just until they were thoroughly heated. I added them to the pasta, but I left out some of the oil that separated out from the heating.
Spinach was washed and dried, chopped finely and added to the pasta. I also added some grape tomatoes and probably used around 20 or 25. And seasoned with salt, pepper and some fresh lemon juice.
Tofu Caprese Pasta Salad
Serves 5-6
1 1/2 cup pasta, uncooked
300g extra firm tofu, cubed (about 2 cups)
1 1/2 to 2 cups spinach, finely chopped
3 1/2 to 4 tbsp pesto
1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halve or quartered
olive oil
salt and pepper
a squeeze of lemon
Eat Pray Bake 